eFootball™

For twenty years it was called PES. Konami's soccer series now answers to eFootball, and the change is more than a name: this is a live, free-to-play football platform that updates with the real season rather than asking you to buy a new box every autumn. The match engine underneath, though, is pure PES heritage — weighted passing, physical duels, goals you have to construct.

New players are looked after properly. A step-by-step tutorial teaches the controls through practical demonstrations and sends you off with a superstar in your squad, and the Smart Assist setting quietly helps with dribbles, passes, and shots until your thumbs learn the complex commands themselves. Veterans can switch the help off and take full manual control.

The heart of it is Dream Team: sign real players, develop them through matches and training items in whatever direction you like — or let Auto Select balance them — and take the squad into divisions and events. Weekly data updates track actual transfers and form, so the game breathes with the season, and your stadium can be dressed with tifos and giant props.

There are also authentic club modes, friend matches, and co-op games up to three-a-side for playing with people you actually know. Practical notes: it needs an internet connection and a chunky download of around 3.1 GB, so use Wi-Fi. Free to play with the usual in-game purchases, it is the thinking player's football game — slower, heavier, and proud of it.